Hybrid Perovskite, CH3NH3PbI3, for Solar Applications: An Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Substitution in A and B Sites

Abstract

The effect of the incorporation of NH4+ into the CH3NH3+ sites of the tetragonal perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 is analysed. Also, how it affects the introduction of Cd2+ cations into Pb2+ sites for a perovskite with 25 at.% of NH4+ is addressed. The incorporation of NH4+ into perovskite leads to a dramatic loss of crystallinity and to the presence of other phases. Moreover, the NH4PbI3 was not found. The less formation of perovskite when NH4+ is incorporated is due to geometrical factors and not changes in the chemical state bonding of the ions. Also, the samples where perovskite is formed show similar band gap values. A slight increase is observed for samples with x=0.5 and 0.75. For the sample with x=1, a drastic increase of the band gap is obtained. Periodic-DFT calculations agree with the experimental structural tendency when NH4+ is incorporated and the density of states analysis confirmed the experimental band gap. The perovskite with 25 at.% of NH4+ was selected for studying the effect of the concentration of Cd on the structural and electronic properties. The theoretical band gap values decreased with the Cd concentration where the narrowing of Cd s-states in the conduction band plays an important role.